I've been growing more interested in mosaics as an art form over the last couple of months and I've been meeting some really great people who live their lives in the world of the mosaic. I'm captivated by this idea of mosaic as art. In the hands of a genius, the seeming restrictions of geometry and the medium itself are transformed into assets to be reveled in and the resulting work offers a perspective not available by any other means.
There's an organization out there called Mosaic Art Now, and it was through their blog that I first became aware of them. I'll write more about the great folks at Mosaic Art Now later this week, but in the meantime, one of their posts from earlier this month really got me excited and I want to pass along some of my excitement.
This stunning work is in a subway station in the Bronx, the Bedford Park Boulevard Station to be precise. I'll say one thing about the MTA, they are serious about bringing real art to the subway riders of the great city of New York. As evidenced by this work, Community Garden, they're committed to the outer boroughs as much as they are to Manhattan.
Artist Andrea Dezsö was commissioned by the MTA to create this mosaic, and it was interpreted and installed by master mosaicist Stephen Miotto. Andrea Dezsö is a visual artist and writer. She was born and raised Romania and is ethnically Hungarian. She brings a whole new definition to the term multi-media artist. Dezsö makes drawings; small, densely worked up one-of-a-kind artist's books; intricate, multi-layered paper cutouts; embroidery; sculpture; installation; animation and large-scale murals. She's won numerous awards and accolades and she is an Assistant Professor of Media Design at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.
This is great art executed flawlessly and the people of the Bronx have to feel a little warmer, a little more joyful, every time they walk past it. On miserable days in February and March I'm sure that effect is increased tenfold. Three cheers for the MTA and thank you Mosaic Art Now for letting me know this work exists.
My old favorite MTA art was Tom Otternesses' Life Underground in the station at 14th Street and 8th. However, Bedford Park Boulevard's Community Garden has made me forget (sort of) about those clever bronzes. Sorry Tom.
Thats a great mural.
ReplyDeleteIf you are ever up in Gainesville FL, you need to see the Tom Otterness 20-foot DNA helix sculpture in the Cancer Genetics Building where I work. Its very impressive and a little racy...
Cool! I love Otterness' work. Send me a photo of it David.
ReplyDeleteoh my god that is just beautiful! The only question I have is, how do they plan to deal with graffiti? It would be tragic to see this artwork defaced. Lovely example of the amazing ways modern day mosaics can be beautiful and new and fresh and amazing -- thanks so much for posting this Paul!
ReplyDeleteWell, the mosaic's been done in glass if I didn't mention that earlier. The glass will be easier to keep clean. Despite what people think about New York, graffiti's not the problem on subway platforms so much as it is on the trains themselves. And even they're surprisingly clean these days. Besides, in order for someone to spray paint something over a wall in a station, he needs some alone time to do it. Anybody who's ever spent any time around the MTA knows that "alone time" is about the last thing you'll find in a subway station.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked that one Adrienne, my eyes about popped out when I came across it on Mosaic Art Now's blog earlier yesterday.